It's as horrific a story tied to sports as we've seen since the OJ Simpson Murders. Chris Benoit, in a fit of (cause yet to be determined) rage, murdered his young boy then his wife and topped off the stranglings by hanging himself from his bowflex. How apropos.
We (probably) are all aware that steroids are capable of producing many negative results in human beings. But up until now, we've not been faced with murderous tendencies. Up until now, it seemed like one could trade five or six extra NFL seasons or five hundered extra home runs for the brain tumor or dying heart muscle that awaited a athlete/cheater heretofore known as an "athleater".
News reports are circulating stating that Benoit was ordering a "ten-month supply" of anabolic steroids every 3-4 weeks. Now I don't know how much a ten month "supply" is, but I do know that ordering and consuming ten months worth of anything every 3-4 weeks, even my beloved donuts, is not a healthy practice. I was stunned that anyone could even consume that much dope and live through the first three weeks much less make a habit of it. But evidently, Benoit did, the medical records prove it.
Unlike the other perpetrators and prevaricators, though. It appears that Benoit made little in the way of an effort to cover his paper trail. Which tells me a few things:
One: MLB looks like the Steroid Gestapo compared to Vinny Mac's WWE.
Two: Benoit didn't expect to be investigated, much less caught.
Three: Even though the Crippler must have put some thought into murdering his family, the change of nickname to "Strangler" couldn't have been so premeditated as to make him launder the paper trail.
So it raises the obvious question. Are steroids to blame? And the answer is no. The answer is always no. Steriods are never to blame.
Hulk Hogan, legitimately the Muhammad Ali of wrestling, went on record as saying that the murders were uncharacteristic of Benoit, and that his wife was "into Satan Worship". So maybe Benoit was just saving the souls of his wife and obviously religiously polluted son. After all, he placed bibles next to their dead bodies. Or maybe it wasn't. Hogan's remarks disgusted me, as it was clearly a thinly veiled attempt at laying the blame on the victims. But then again, Hogan was never known for his brainpower. He found a great gimmick and had the size and personality to ride it out.
But if it wasn't "curing" devil worship, and it wasn't steroids, that what is to blame? Mental Illness? Bad batch of painkillers?
It's not a "what" folks. That's why we can't blame the dope or the devil. Chris Benoit injected those drugs and Chris Benoit strangled his wife and child. Chris Benoit chose, years ago, to remain part of an industry of muscle bound, arrested adolescents who sacrifice their bodies, their families and their souls to a detestable promoter, because they'd probably be digging ditches otherwise.
So let's play it straight, kids. The drugs aren't the problem. The people are. As long as there are ways to cheat, there will be cheaters. And like Chris Rock said; "you don't 'sell' drugs, the motherchuckers come to you". "Ain't no 'sellin' drugs".
So before we rush to blame the dope, the Doctor or the Devil, lets lay the rope where it truly belongs; at the feet of Chris Benoit.
Wrestler, Father, Drug Abuser, Murderer; and you don't have to be all four to be any combination of the others.
"If MC's can't get with the sound that's goin' round then they need to sit down"
Craig Mack
So Kenrick Thomas challenges us all to be better bloggers and the bugs come out of the woodwork all chirping; "who do you think you are kid?"
I expected some, I could have won a ton of money betting on the complainers. But then "TheDan" hopped on the party-line train. I was very surprised. So I had to step in, tell them they were finished, tell them that the streets belong to the Batman.
Okay, maybe that's overkill, but I do have to ask a question. Why the agita?
A teenager, who is also a reader, made some remarks about the relative quality of the pieces on the site. He had a point. Any pool of talent is going to have its collective peaks and valleys. Any objective observer would peruse this site and come to two conclusions.
1. BOTD is never about quality. It's about rotating a few "pet" bloggers.
You can't tell me that "to-do lists", answering machine messages, poems, attacks and apologies are the best we have to offer.
2. Every now and then Fox plugs in the occasional sensationalist rhetoric post as "most interesting" to make it look like they actually read the blogs.
I know, I love sensationalist rhetoric like fat kids love cake. But if Fox actually read the blogs, there's no way on God's green Earth that Ed Hardiman doesn't get BOTD with his "All Star Apology". There's also no way Josh Q., ever hits the top 3 with his "stream of un-consciousness" silliness.
So let's just get this straight. Fox has a hand in lowering the bar for what was supposed to be a sports blog. If you praise people for writing junk, many will write junk, and those who don't will eventually get tired of using the forum. The kid missed that, but he's a kid. Kids miss things, so do adults, but we get fewer free passes.
The bloggers? Well I stop short of saying I don't blame them, because I blame them. But when something earns you accolades, it can be hard to resist one's ego. Not an excuse, just an explanation.
But it leads me to a question.
Why are you folks so worked up anyway? Being a real writer comes with both the rewards and the rants. You're going to receive criticism. Mitch Albom, who began earning fame writing sports for the Detroit Free Press, was long considered the "weak-link" on ESPN's Sports Reporters. Now he sells a bazillion copies writing about human interests. "Tuesday's with Morrie", The Five People . . . .", For One More Day", etc.. While his first two books reduced me to a sobbing mess, the third is doubtlessly another version of the formula he used for the first two. Nonetheless, I will read it and cry for 45 minutes afterward. So is Mitch great, or is he manipulative? Is he fabulous or formulaic? The answer is yes. And he'll be getting both praise and criticism for as long as he puts himself, willingly, into the public eye.
More importantly, he'll be getting money. Which is why people write books that are also for sale.
So what insulates you folks from criticism, anyway? Did you sign a deal with the Devil? Last I checked, as long as people gave folks the chance to tell them "you're great" there was another line waiting to tell them "you suck". (See; Spears, Britney).
But you guys are immune to that? Someone gave you a shot, right?
You know what Jimmy from South Park says; "It's like, come on."
So a kid told you to get yourselves some "act-right". Big deal, odds are high that there was much truth to his critique. So he's 17. What was that line "and a child shall lead them . . "
Just who exactly is so good here, that they couldn't possibly raise their game? In 1992, John Grisham sold 12% of all the books in the US. 12 frickin' percent!!!!!! Multi-mega-billion dollar corporations would move mountains to capture that % of a market. Yet Grisham spits out a few hundered pages of formulaic, warmed-over literary pablum and sets a record that will likely never be touched. Still he was assailed as a guy who "writes nice stories at an 8th grade level" in every literary circle.
Face facts folks. If you put yourself out there, 10% of people will like you, no matter what, 15% will hate you, no matter what, and 75% you're gonna have to win over.
I can't help but be reminded of Miles Davis later in his career, offering tutelage (as much as Miles could be accused of tutoring) to a student on the vicissitudes on Jazz. Miles turned to the sprout and said;
"Now listen to this" Miles said, drew the trumpet as if to blow, and then sat silently for a few minutes. The student grew impatient with the silence and finally burst out "But you're not playing anything!" Miles responded, in his typical gravelly, near whisper, "Yeah, that's Jazz kid, it's all about the notes you don't play".
I've long been a huge fan of music, and a lover of what I call the "new classical music", Jazz. The fact is, you can't swing a dead cat in a Jazz discussion and not hit someone talking about Miles. That's his legacy. Undeniable greatness.
In that way Miles is like Michael Jordan. Even those that hated Jordan, can not deny him. But Davis in knowledgeable circles, is said to have had two careers. The Miles that played a lot of notes and the Miles that played fewer notes. We see this often in Jazz artists, they realize that their musical impact is actually increased with interstitial silence, the notes they don't play.
For Michael, the shots he didn't take helped him become an undeniable great. Because the shots you don't take leave the defense guessing. It's that fraction of a second's defensive uncertainty, that creates opportunity.
Are you listening Kobe? If you ever want to be "the" guy, there has to be at least the slightest chance that you'll give up the rock, not matter what, no matter when. It's that moment of uncertainty that will force the D to guard other people, or (I know it frightens you) let them them make a shot. You don't have games where you decide to be the assist man, because the media cracked on you for lofting 45 shots the night before, and you don't have entire stretches where you run the court and square up as though it's one-on-five.
That's why KG doesn't want to play with you Kobe. That's why nobody's screaming "trade me to the Lakers". For you, it's still about the shots you don't, don't take.
A few years from now, Barry Bonds will be a baseball memory, and will begin making the headlines for another reason. Barry will be breaking down in the public eye, displaying the frailty and weakness he's sold his soul to fend off. He'll be in a wheelchair, awaiting a knee or hip transplant. Or he'll be in a hospital bed, awaiting a tumor removal. Maybe he'll remind us of Lyle Alzado, dying from cancer, traveling the country lecturing on the evils of steroids.
Nah, Barry will never have the courage to admit he was a cheat. But his body will do that for him. Because you can't deny father time. Aging is like an annuity, You either get your obsolence gradually, or sell out for one lump sum.
That's why I've laid off arguing over Baroids. Soon enough, the truth of this farce will be seen in the light of day. Short of disappearing like Greta Garbo, Bonds choice will be "clear" to all of us. And his suffering will be punishment enough. So leave him be. That's the best punishment for Bonds anyway. It was always about "negative press is better than no press at all" for him.
For Barry, it's always been about the shots he didn't, didn't take.
Unfortunatley for Bonds, he never had Shaquille O'Neal on his team. So he doesn't even have the jewelry Kobe has.
It's too late for Bonds, he's gonna die ugly, likely with no compassion from the folks he chose to disrespect and defraud. But it may not be too late for Kobe; at least to become a better round-baller, that is. He may still have a chance to prove that he's a championship caliber player, without Shaq to distract the D.
Funny, isn't it?, Art (in this case the art of Jazz) really does imitate life, or is it life that imitates art? The shots you don't take can make you, and the shots you do take just might kill you.
No, I'm not jackin' a headline or jockin' Dear Abby or Andy Rooney to get a post count. No, I don't have "blog lite" on tap today. Hell, I don't even have a mustache. Not since the 80's, anyway. Nor do I jack handles from Dungeons & Dragons, regale you with my tales of swingery, or spew mysoginy.
What I do have is another blackhand smash of realitah, so all you featherweights and imaginary reptiles better take cover. 'Nuff said on that.
On to the real. 'Da Bears decided that there was a little too much gas for extracurriculars left in the Tank, so they cut him loose. It saddens me, because for some reason I liked the guy, but it was the right move by the first team with enough balls to say "no mas". Even though the NFL had taken decisive action with Mr. Johnson, the Bears made the strongest statement regarding conduct yet.
And this has what to do with Titans, again?
It led many to question why the Flaming Thumbtacks haven't parted ways with Adam (Crac-Man) Jones. I call him Crac-Man, by the way, because anyone who has 15 criminal investigations pending and goes for #16, must be smoking some powerful ####
Giant head, tiny brain. Dragon maybe?
Nevertheless, Johnson's pink slip has many buzzing about why Adam Jones still has a roster spot. Bear in mind that Jeff Fisher has gone on the record saying the Tacks have moved on. The FO has even signed a few DB's. And in the most impressive move, VY stated that Crac "don't care about us". Misuse of pronouns aside, Young continues to impress me this offseason. The example he's setting is stellar.
And what about Ron Mexico? Why is it that the Falcons endure the constant humiliation of Vick's willingness to spread venereal disease, flip off the home crowd, ####-can his coaches, and torture and kill innocent animals?
It's simple economics kids, where both Chick and Crac-man are concerned. Forget the fact that the neither team's record the last few seasons has been anything to rave about. Forget that Fisher, like Bill Cowher quickly became in Pittsburgh, is so frightened of losing that he'll start even the least competent mediocre vets over unproven talent. Forget that the last thing Bobby Petrino wants to do is start his first NFL season with Joey Harrington or Chris Redman under center. Forget that the fact that even the most exciting #### is still more exciting than a career rumdum. Forget it all, except for this.
I am so sick of being a morahn! Hey Whiz, how do you spell ####?
The games are played for money. The Tacks and the Birds both fronted a reasonable amount of cash to see these boys on the field. Tank, though, was not a bonus baby and therefore much more dispensible.
In the case of Titans, it's lot less loss, but they're going to be bearing the McNair legacy for a few years yet. So they need all the coin they can get.
In the Mexico case, Arthur (I don't know a screen pass from a screen door) Blank invested a whole forest worth of lumber in Vick and still hasn't gotten so much as a 2 x 4 back.
So these guys will stick, even if it is bad money after good. Because Reese and Blank are desperate men. Desperate not just to cover their misjudgements, but to cover their losses. Heck, if the Feds get around to serving justice to Chick, Home Depot may even impose a cover charge.
Why the Falcons can afford Vick
And don't you Mexico apologists kid yourselves into thinking that the recent lull in headlines is any sign that the Feds don't have that grand jury waiting. Just remember that they'll take their own sweet time and all of our money to get it straight, because they can.
So the real question is why the NFL hasn't take more action against Crac or any action against Mexico. Again, same answer. Because, as players and agents keep reminding us, the NFL is a business as in NFF (not for free).
So for now, the rich at least stay rich and the poor get poorer. It's like the world, Roger Gooddell and all of his tough talk seems to have a pay scale for justice.
It's impossible to forget the day OJ pulled out his greatest upset victory, an 11-1 jury-rig over his bumbling opponent, the LAPD. Up until then, the best he had done was to rush for 2,000 yards in one season of a career that had long passed him by. But that clearly wasn't stopping the Juice from one more run at the record books. He now had the record for most grisly and obvious double-slaughter committed without being prosecuted.
What really sticks in my mind though, is not the fact that there won't be enough firewood in hell to fill the woodstove they're saving for OJ. It's the reaction I witnessed when the verdict came out. I was standing near a group of young black men, when one received a call on his cell phone. He conveyed the message to his group and literally jumped for joy. "We won" they yelled. "We won". I looked at them quizzically. What had they won? A double murderer worked an imperfect system of jurisprudence and walked away free. I didn't see any money fall into their hands, I didn't see their bosses run out and give them promotions, I didn't see any of them getting a get out of jail (but not for) free card. OJ's life was changed that day. Their lives, but for a sickening celebration of a double murderer, were identical.They didn't get it. In the single most vile demonstration I had ever witnessed, it was clear just how desperate they were to spew their internal ugliness. I turned to them and said, "We won, are you guys crazy? He won, he's still rich (at least for the moment he was) and you're still poor. There's no we, OJ just became black again today. He hasn't been black for 30 years". It was so sad. Because like many blacks, they were so desperate for a crumb's worth of special treatment, they'd even tie themselves to a hero who had long ago forsaken them. OJ killed his white x-wife, he had a white girlfriend, lived in one of the richest, predominantly white neighborhoods in America, and the closest he came to a black friend after football was an Armenian. OJ dated, married, befriended, lived and riased his children in exclusively rich/white circles. But all of a sudden, when he flipped and decided to kill a few people and make the slow roll to Mexico, he called upon his leftover black friend to help. All of a sudden when his #### was being fitted for an electric chair, he hired a #### of a black mouthpiece to play the race card in court.
All of a sudden, because it was his last best hope to get away with murder, OJ was a brother to all the black folks from which he worked so hard to distance himself. So here's what the young brothers didn't get. He used them. He won and they lost. OJ not only despised their and his blackness so much that he dedicated his life to escaping it, he had just drawn the color line back to black in order to get away with murder. This served them how? Do poor blacks, or blacks in general, now escape criminal conviction more frequently? No. Did OJ's “triumphant” dash from a jail cell elevate the social standing of blacks? No. Did anything change for anyone other than OJ on that day? No.
He used you, bruthas. He didn't want you before he was a murderer, and he doesn't need you now that the trial is over. Yet you were stupid enough to think you won something. The sad fact, for all you celebrants, is that OJ's "victory" was not blacks winning out over whites, it was rich folk winning out over po' folk.OJ didn't beat the system because he was black, he just had enough money to burn multi-millions throwing every possible curveball at the justice system, one of which was the race ball. Besides, all of the late rapper Johnnie (J-Dog) Cochran's theatrics would have been wasted if not for Barry Schecks ability to befuddle the jury with DNA speak. Yet blacks were and still are so blinded by their hatred as to embrace a felled hero who despised his own and their skin color.And we see it repeatedly. It's present in the blatant racism of scrambling to defend Michael Vick when he obviously has committed a handful of felonies, aside from being a mentally-challenged throwback to the gene pool. We see it in the rush of posters like De (the swinging Dragon) moronicume, wasting endless, thinly-veiled, I hate whitey rhetoric, to defend gutter-trash like Adam Jones on the heels of his 16th criminal investigation. We see it in Ultra-mega's pretzel logic where using a laminated bat for part of one season is every bit as performance enhancing as twelve years of steroids. In the "Dragon's" case though, he's crapping his pants, because the Feds are jumping in. The cases are gonna be handled effectively, the perps won't be walking anywhere but the prison yard, and he'll have to get an earth mover to cover the truth in ####, instead of the thin layer he usually produces.But party on bruthas. As Rick James said, '"cocaine is a helluva drug". You can get high all you want on the idea that black folks are getting "even" by throwing piles of money at an imperfect system. You can rush to make all the twisted excuses in the universe for a cast of characters like OJ that can't get away from you fast enough, You can shill to rich punks like Kobe and Barry who know less about being black than I do. You can even ride the tails of devils like Vick and Jones who only serve to disgrace and reinforce negative stereotypes about blacks. You can think that you have something in common with those guys, because you pull the "blame whitey" card.
But it doesn't work my brutha's. Having millions of dollars to pay to white lawyers is what gets you a free pass to rape, murder or commit whatever crime you choose to perpetrate. Whether it's the most egregious in nature or just the stupidest (see McNair, Steve).
In the meantime, consider that in your rush to bask in the limelight of the folks who use color as a tool to perpetrate, they're using you. And your willingness to blindly support them regardless of their blatant and obvious malfeasance smacks of the same collusion we saw in the 50's and 60's when Billy Bob lynched your grandpa and Jimmy Ray swore on the stand that he was innocent. Racism, my brutha's, clearly is not just for whitey anymore. The #### is going to have to yield to the BBB (Black Brutha Brigade). But you've been duped, duped in the worst way for the worst possible reason, by distant cousins who only need you when they need to get out of trouble.
So now tell me what you've won, again. Or have you merely become what you beheld?
Here's an excerpt from Lisa4USC's June 7, Snippets, Bullets and Snapshots:
"Federal authorities, in more than a dozen vehicles, raided Michael Vick's house on Thursday to seek more evidence in the dog fighting scandal. FEDERAL authorities for a dog fighting charge? Can't the state of Virginia handle a warrant for a dog fighting ring by themselves? Were the dogs in a federal protection program? Or is the Govenor up for re-election shortly? Can you spell O-V-E-R-K-I-L-L? Paris Hilton must be relieved she lives in California."
Yet on June 8th she jacks a headline from ESPN radio and reports . . . . .
Almost 3 dozen dog carcasses were found on the property once owned by Michael Vick, according to ESPNradio, AOL and WVECcom. Fox Sports will not verify this story.
Federal authorities executed a search warrant today and from the beginning, according to video evidence, the carcasses were discovered early on into the search.
She goes further to state:
Think about this. ...almost 36 dogs killed.....that we KNOW OF. What kind of person does this sort of thing? One who lacks serious morals and decency. Vick is a cancer to society, and the scary part is, we might never know how many other crimes this guy has committed. He is a prototype case study for the serious psychopath.
Five years in prison is not enough.
So it appears that in the space of one day, what was overkill is now prison worthy. Talk about a change of heart. So tell us Lisa, which is it today? Overkill or underkill?
But then again, this is the same person who said;
" Doug Williams was a scab"
'87 was a strike year. Only 15% of the NFL players crossed the picket lines, the rest were scabs coming from semi-pro teams, etc. That is the reason why I said that Williams won the January '88 SB against scabs and out of shape NFL players who had hardly played at all.
Yeah, he won a Super Bowl, but it was a SCAB year, so he wasn't playing the best players. There is an * next to his accomplishments, is there not?"
For the record, a scab is one who crosses a picket line to work. Williams did not. The 1987 season was shortened by one game, but three games (4-6) were conmpleted with replacement players. So one could argue that the 1987 season was only twelve weeks and three playoff weeks long. So those "out of shape" players only had 14-15 weeks to get "hardly play at all" into game shape. Barely time to suit up, right?
And that "entire season" Williams played was five games long, the last five. Jay Schroeder got hurt. Williams was the insurance policy Gibbs signed because he knew him from his days in Tampa. So if anything, Schroeder had the opportunity to pad his stats against the out of shapers, not Williams. By the time Williams saw the field, everyone was in peak shape., if anything fresher than usual due to a few weeks vacation before mid-season. Also, ther is an astersisk next to the season records, explaining that the season was shortened by one game, etc. Williams stats do not carry an asterisk, nor should they.
So between meaningless prattle and weak attempts to Jock the style of erstwhile CBS features commentator, Andy Rooney; Lisa offers us 180 degrees of spin deriding a #### ATL QB who didn't merit a Federal Investigation one day earlier, or utter inaccuracies and complete falsehoods deriding a guy who put up one of the greatest performances in SB history.
But it gets better . . . .
In a vain attempt to maintain her Viselike grasp on the jockstrap of another fraud, Demon "Dog-Fighting isn't a felony in VA" icume the self proclaimed Dragon, she warned me for chiding him with:
One more point...Demonic is giving you a lot of space. Demon is a huge blogger here who, although BLEEP es us off sometimes, has our undying respect. He's on the board if a major stockholding meeting came up. He's someone not to be messed with...he's a frickin serious sports nut whose opinion is widely respected on FOX. You are treading on treacherous waters. I get into huge fights with him, but love him and respect him more than you'll ever know. Careful where you wade, or a tsunami will hit ya.
I can't wait to see what the spin is today. Maybe she'll write back and tell me that Demonicume is an absolute hack with no skills living in his Dungeons and Dragons fantasy world. She'll probably tell me that he better look out or I'll unleash a meteor shower on his sorry ####.
"I am... a swinging DRAGON of 30"
(am I the only who finds this hilarious?)
Any way you look at it, Lisa's "Straight Talk" has a decidely circular shape to it.
Of Course I don't know what Demo has to say about any of this, ever since he humiliated himself with the "Dog-Fighting isn't a felony in VA" remark. Just After he flamaed out with his man-love obsession for Ron Mexico he resorted to desperate, mysogynistic attacks on my wife's character. (I saved 'em Demo, don't rush to delete). I quickly backed his pathetic act into a corner, and he's been disappeared ever since. . .
On Tuesday, January 20th, 2002 at about 6: 50 PM, I turned the corner expecting to head towards my driveway, when I was interrupted by the screaming of a woman about fifty feet down the road. I couldn't guess what had happened but followed my instincts to rush to the scene and try to help.
The woman was my wife. "Chloe's been hit", she screamed. My two year and two month old, snow white, Siberian Husky was lying motionless, but conscious, in the road. I asked my wife to explain what happened. She told me that Chloe had escaped and run into the road. She was hit twice, by two different cars, and then dragged about 100 feet. I got help from someone kind enough to stop, and lifted Chloe into my car to rush her to the vet. Chloe gave her death wail on the short ride over. The vet tried repeatedly to save her, but she died one hour later, from what the Veternarian said was a combination of internal injuries and a bruise to her heart.
A witness estimated that traffic was moving at about sixty mph, as it usually did at the dinner hour. The sad fact is, the speed limit in front of my ex-house was 20mph. It's not for me to guess what might have happened to Chloe if folks had been obeying the law, and she hadn't obeyed her nature to play "run and catch me". But I know that her chance of surviving an impact at 20mph is geometrically higher than 60 mph. I also know that it's highly unlikely she would have been hit a 2nd time.
Five years and three more Huskies later. I have learned there is no replacing Chloe. I love my new chilluns to pieces, but Chloe was as close to a child as I have ever had. She was the first being on earth ever to love me unconditionally, and my best friend. My wife is still angry at me for wishing I could have been home to jump in front of traffic for her. But for me, her life mattered as much as my own. Chloe was energy and light and goodness. I can't fight the tears five years later.
Maybe that's why I take exception to those who take exception to the Feds involving themself in an investigation of a dog fighting ring. I guess for them, Canines are as dispensible as the folks who crushed my Chloe to death, or the folks in Mike Vick's circle believe they are.
I read Demonicume's sickening prattle about how the investigation was unjustified because it was "going nowhere". How can an investigation proceed when a local yokel thwarts a warrant for 30 dead carcasses because he had issues with the way it was worded? I suppose that bloody carpeting, rape stands, a pry bar, and a bleached out dog carcass are no cause for alarm either.
I read Lisa4USC's pathetic attempts to swing from Demo's jock and minimize what is clearly an operation to torture, maim and kill dogs for entertainment and profit.
I read every bit of the local police chief's hyperbolic attempt to cover his dragging black ####, with every card in the deck, including the race card.
And it's all as disgraceful as the crime itself.
Perhaps worst of all was the Demo's (the self aggrandized Dragon) idiotic statement about how the investigation deterred Feds from investigating real criminals and that Dog-Fighting was not a felony in VA.
It is a felony. And like many felonies, many more are committed than ever see prosecution, and many more see prosecution than conviction. Which doesn't make the scum that get away with those crimes any less guilty. In simpler terms, one does not have 66 Pit Bulls in varying states of injury and physical distress, a rape stand, bloody carpets, a pry bar and sailor chains because one is selling Fudgesicles, kids. I've never seen a crime so obvious go unprosecuted for so long. My guess is that the Feds are involved because Sherrif Harold Brown's neck is on the block now, too.
So before anyone cheapens this forum any further with the 'hater" allegations, and the "why aren't the Feds pursuing real criminals BS", understand that the Feds are pursuing real criminals. Consider also, that since possession is 9/10th of the law, Mike Vick is one of them.
Meanwhile, I remain as mortified and disgusted by Demo, Lisa, Harold Brown and the rest of the apologists at their disregard for living beings, as I was by the actions of two speeders that night in January. Utter cruelty to living beings is a crime of the highest order. How they can minimize it, I fail to understand.
Speeding, by the way, is not a felony. Maybe if I had told Chloe that while she lay crushed in the bitter night, bleeding to death from the inside out, it would have made her feel better.
I would give ten years of my life to have the Feds "un-necessarily" policing traffic in my neighborhood that night. My only problem is that they waited so long to visit that house in VA.
I've been unfairly maligned for pointing out the foibles of black NFL QB's for some time now. Face facts folks, I don't make the news, I just pass it along. For that reason, I find it unnecessary to defend my critique of this group or any other. What's ironic is that the line of critics stretching around the corner to label me a racist never jump in to mention how my sports writing hero is Ralph Wiley. They never rush to restate my admiration of of Doug Williams, either.
But as I've said all along, I'm all about the truth here. And the truth sets me free. Just as I hope it sets Daunte Culpepper free.
I've seen the best of Culpepper and the worst of Culpepper just like the rest of us, and still I remain committed to the idea that this guy (however streaky he is) is one of the most under-appreciated, immensely gifted, and poorly coached QB's of his time. It ails me to hear #### announcers rave about a borderline #### like Steve McNair being such a physical phenom, when Culpepper posesses all the gifts McNair has but much more of them. McNair, however has had the gift of at least a competitive supporting cast around him.
But what I think makes me continue to hold Culpepper is high esteem is the way he copes with adversity. Like he has in dealing with the Trent Green situation. While Culpepper was right in stating that Miami rushed him back last year and is rushing him out the door now, he stopped short of embarassing himslef because what he said made perfect sense. Culpepper didn't stop there, though. He nicely packaged his request to be released as on opportunity for teams to get to know him at market value, rather than absorb what has become an inflated contract. This is a QB with a brain. Even if his agent hand wrote the statement for him, he chose to deliver it, and that's the decision that counts. Kudos to Dante, I wish we could sign him in Pittsburgh, but I think he can and should start ahead of a long line of other NFL QB's. I sincerely hope he regains his health and stays away from the other AFCN teams.
But wait, there's more. From the "just when I thought Vince Young was Kordell II" department. Young completely flummoxes me by not only insisting that his WR's come to train with him in their off time, he foots the bill for the travel accomodations. I was clearly wrong about Young being stupid. His wonderlic score may say "dumb", but has any other 2nd year QB ever done this before. Tom Brady? No. Peyton Manning? No. In the simplest terms, Young has already shown more commitment than any other QB in the NFL this year. As much as I hate the Flaming Thumbtacks, I have to feel good for their fans and for Young.
Unfortunatley, it's not all good news. The Federal Stromtroopers raided Ron Mexico's PitBull Hotel, after waiting way too long for the yokels to remove their thumbs from their ####s. Naturally, the humiliated local cops fell all over themselves making excuses and even playing the race card. But who's buying it. The entire USA, and half of Atlanta (the half of the GA dome that Vick flipped off) was already wondering why the investigation seemed to be moving slower than evolution down there.
For ATL fans, this means you might have wished Artie kept Matt Schaub one season longer. After all, we know Matt Schaub, we've seen Matt Schaub, and gentlemen, Chris Redman is no Matt Schaub. Vick supporters can continue the delusions as much as they'd like, but when the Feds come knocking, it's a whole different ballgame. If the Feds had taken over the OJ case, he'd be just about out of appeals right now and ordering his last meal. OJ will be forever thanking his lucky stars that he was enraged enough to do his killing within state lines.
I can only wonder what Goody is going to do now that his hanging judge reputation will be challenged by a genuine top-draw. Because, make no mistake about it, even though he's struggled to become an average QB, Vick puts butts in seats. And that's the business the NFL is in.
Then again, maybe Goodell won't have to act right away. Maybe the Feds will take care of that for him.
1. Is Charley Rosen right in saying the Laker's decline is not Kobe's fault, but that of Jerry Buss.
The answer is yes. Kobe didn't trade Shaq, even if he forced the issue. Buss just ignored history and gambled on the idea that he could win with one superstar. He replaced a great GM with an average player. He resigned a #### to a huge, Cap-busting contract. He hired a loser coach with nothing left in the tank. Then he replaced him with a smart coach who knows you can't win with just one superstar, but only gave him one superstar. So in essence, it is Jerry's fault. As the chinese say, "the fish rots from the head down".
2. Will Mike Vick be indicted, and if so will he be suspended?
Vick's indictment is imminent. There's no question Vick is guilty, but whether or not he ever sees punsihment is another issue. The real question is how the NFL hangin' judge will deal with a top 10 sheleb stepping in Georgia fertilizer. My bet is that short of prison taking Vick from a few starts, not so jolly Roger will dance around this one like Michael Flatley.
3. Is LeBron the King, or better yet is he the next MJ.
LeBron is not quite the King, but after last night, they better start cutting the Robe. The rest of the NBA is already praying that the Cav's never find a legitimate 2nd threat, or it's gonna be a long decade. But LeB is not the next MJ. He's more like the next Big O. You can see by the look in his eyes, that he's not the assassin that Jordan was. Face facts folks. You don't catch lighting in a bottle twice in a lifetime. Still, I like LeBron much better than Jordan. I never thought I could hate anyone more tha Larry Bird, until Jordan.
4. Did Alex Rodriguez cheat the Jays on that pop-up?
Simply stated, no. He made a thinking player's play. Any infielder who hasn't heard that trick before shouldn't be playing in the bigs. Props to A-Rod. It's the baseball equivalent of the Statue of Liberty, or Marino's fake spike to stop the clock.
5. Does anyone in the US care about Lord Stanley's Cup?
Sad to say, but Hockey in the US remains a 2nd tier sporting event. It will stay that way until Sid the Kid, The Russian Rocket and Jordan Staahl make Hockey's Holy Grail their own. It doesn't help any that our representative team is called the (Once Mighty) Ducks. Maybe we can get a new team in Florida and call it the Fierce Flamingoes. That would raise the NHL's image.
6. What's this NASCAR business all about?
Still a mystery to me folks. I simplay can't understand how you turn "drive fast-turn left" into a multimillion dollar enterprise. But the again, a guy made millions selling painted rocks in the 70's, and women and men spent millions and millions pasting their hair into unnatural shapes in the 80's, so anything goes. This is the same society that gave us "Heroin Chic". Trust me, wasting away to your death with rotting flesh is not chic, nor is driving fast and turning left that exciting. But hey, some poeple will do anything to look good, or have an excuse to drink beer in front of the TV in Alabama.
7. Why do Fox Bloggers read and react to garbage posts and avoid substantive efforts?
Several reasons:
People respond to their emotions, because it lives in the Amygdala, the easy one to raise is anger.
Substantive, well written posts usually require no response.
Water, and people, seek their own levels.
8. Will NFL players ever learn that their careers and earning power are usually shortened by free agent moves to new teams.
No. Even though there are ten Antwan Randle El's for every one Steve Hutchinson, greed and ego makes everyone think they'll be Steve and not Antwan.
9. Why do teams line up to pay Roger Clemens $14mm for half a season?
Why is gas $3.17 a gallon. Have you bought any gas lately? That's why.
10. Why do I write more garbage than good stuff?
Why does McDonalds sell more food than any other restaurant on the face of the earth? Why is WalMart the largest employer in the US? DooDoo sells kids. Ralph Wiley is turning over in his grave right now.
Tell us something we don't know, KoMe. The word out of LA is that you've progressed from "beyond furious" to having "trust issues" with the Laker brass. It seems you're feeling mistreated because the same team that pays you $18mm to bury the talent around you, allegedly leaked that you hastened the Big Aristotle's move to South Beach. Now, after the long anticipated and completely predictable hatchet job on your team mates, you've chosen to assail the FO out of the evil side of your mouth, while espousing love from the dishonest side.
KoMe, your act is stale. Your game is predictable, and when crunch time comes, you're as lost as a two year old who wandered away from his Momma in the mall of America. And now you're just pathetic.
One NBA player has ever been able to assail his FO and thrive thereafter (see Jordan, Michael). But that was on behalf of his team mates. No true warrior would ever dream he could gain an advantage by taking a machete to the guys who go to war with him.
I truly wish that Dr. Drunk or Mitch Upchuck had the nuts to play it straight and true with the media. Because the facts of the case are (as Douglas Adams would say) "intuitively obvious to even the most casual observer".
There are truths one discloses and truths one keeps within. Dr. Buss and Mitch are telling us the truth, but only part of it. Yes they were concerned about the Diesel's durability, yes they were worried about overpaying him, and yes they saw the need to get younger in order to remain competitive. All these things are sensible and true.
But this is the NBA, Ko. Two-bit rumdums score eight digit salaries every year, as long as they managed to paste together one, count it, one, good contract year. So if you think the story (that the FO couldn't find a way to satisfy the requirements of one of the greatest centers ever), carries a lot of weight with any savvy fans, you've got another think coming.
Like I said, all the concrens were real, and all of them could have been easily addressed with #34 still in the purple and gold. All the concerns except one, that is. The concern that dared not speak its name.
Tell us KoMe, what franchise would go on record as saying, "our top two stars don't play very well in the sandbox. The younger one will leave for NY if we don't put the older child in another yard somewhere." "Besides, our coach, the same coach that's threatening Red Auerbach's record for trophies, is threatening to rid his zen-cycle into the sunset if we don't end this brainless pissing match"
So now you're angry, because somebody drew the line directly to obvious and dared to even mention that the Emperor of Lakerland has no clothes.
You're throwing tears, to all that will catch them, about how the FO is a mess because the first hint of reason might have leaked from the PR dike. The group that has phenomenally overpaid you, and molly-coddled you to the point of providing you a jet to travel to your rape trial.
My only response. Of course you are. It's the chalk response.
What else would we expect from a gutless weasel, whose biggest accomplishments are sending an all time great/ true champion packing and beating a rape charge by outspending the victim. What else would you expect from the guy who sent the aging superstar away to win another championship while his team never makes it out of playoff round one.
What's really sad is that even you're skills as a perp are diminishing. This recent hulabaloo pales in comparison to the good old days, when you had the power to wreck a championship team and destroy a young woman's life.
Now the only arrow you have left in your quiver is the predictable pissing and moaning of a has been.
If it makes you feel any better KoMe, I trust you. I trust that you'll do whatever's in the worst interests of the team, and more ironically, yourself. I trust you to point the finger elsewhere every time.
Because you can't admit that Shaq won a championship with exactly one other great player, and bunch of guys who'd have a hard time getting picked out of a police line up. Guys like like White Chocolate and Udonis Haslem. That's right, I went there, I said Udonis Haslem.
But watching you shoot yourself in the foot every few months is getting pretty tired.
So tell us something we don't know, KoMe. Better yet, show us something we haven't seen. Some class or decency for instance.
Marquise Hill died in a boating accident. Add his name to an ever expanding list of promising young men who died before what many will argue was their time. Of course some will espouse empty platitudes proclaiming that "God called him home" or "it was just his time". These and many other attempts will ring in our ears as we struggle to answer the unanswerable. Why? Why him? Why now?
I dealt with that question when my best friend died in a car collision at age 22. He didn't actually expire at the scene, though, the paramedics revived him. The Doctors kept him on life support until his mother could return from out of town to say goodbye. That was the night I learned the terms "brain bolt", "multi-system failure" and "DNR". Although my firend was not immediate family, we were as close as brothers for 10 years. I found myself asking those same questions that family and friends of Mr. Hill are likely asking now. The same questions that tortured parents and friends of Hank Geathers, Len Bias, Darrent Williams, Korey Stringer, Corey Lidle, Thurman Munson, Josh Hancock, Brian Piccolo, Damien Nash, Pat Tillman and the list goes on and on. . .
The answers to the questions those families are forced to ask; the tragic, mortifying unanswerable questions that mock human existence are, of course, nowhere to be found. We have our theories, our philosophies and our theologies, but we have no answers. We have only hurt and loss and endless regret. And time does not heal all wounds, it merely distances us from the agony.
But consider too, that if we had the answers; how would we ever cope with the knowledge?
The passing of Mr. Hill and others before him serves as a reminder of the frailty of human existence. It's an ugly karmic ego check to remind us that no signing bonus, no stadium full of adoring fans, no TV commercial or endorsement contract can protect us from a too soon, too painful and too ugly exit.
Death doesn't want our money.
Death doesn't favor race, creed or religion.
Death reminds us that just as we are one in joy, we are one in sorrow.
So while we take the time to (deservedly) lambaste the chemically altered freak in San Fran, the gutless punk in Los Angeles and the long list of NFL multimillionaires who need a new contract so they can "provide for their family", let's take a moment to remember that their time will come and it will likely not be of their choosing. Let's remember that rich or poor no one gets out of life alive. For a moment let's stop short of criticism or critique, because as the late great Senator Thomas Hart Benton once retorted; "When the Good Lord puts his hands on a man, I take mine off, sir".
Let's take a moment to offer our condolences to the family and friends of Mr. Hill and to extend our prayers or good wishes to all those with whom we are united in joy and sorrow.
Because there are questions we will never be able to answer, but there is almost always something we can do to heighten the joy or ease the suffering of those around us. In the grand scheme of it all, us is all we have.
May all of those who were taken too soon rest in peace, and may all of those whose lives they touched find peace in the face of their loss.
This post is , (as are all of the the rare posts I write that matter), dedicated to the late great Ralph Wiley.
Donovan McNabb was shocked when the Eagles drafted a QB this year. "Shocked" His own words. Somehow McNabb managed to forget the last 9 years in Philadelphia. Nine years au####iously marked by a franchise letting many stars go one year early, rather than one year late.
Perhaps McNabb forgot about his major knee blowout last year, or the fact that he's started just 19 of 32 games in the last two seasons. At the very least, he must have thought he was somehow indispensible, even after watching the Vincents and the Trotters (for example) of the group get the gate.
What mystifies me is that McNabb espoused understanding of NFLenomics when the Eagles drafted to replace other aging starters. But the reality is McNabb is either a little heavy on the ego or a little light in the brain. Having experienced more than a little bit of the McNabb lovefest with the media, I'm stunned, because ego is not a word I quickly relate to McNabb. The guy is a stellar citizen, gives 100% on every play, plays hurt (when he can walk) and is an all around class act. So I have to ask myself; "what is he, stupid?".
I can't wait to see what the spin is today. Maybe she'll write back and tell me that Demonicume is an absolute hack with no skills living in his Dungeons and Dragons fantasy world. She'll probably tell me that he better look out or I'll unleash a meteor shower on his sorry 
